Thursday 26 July 2012 07.51 EDT
First published on Thursday 26 July 2012 07.51 EDT

US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney met with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, on Thursday morning "to exchange ideas and perspectives" during a visit to London.

Barack Obama's Republican rival for the US presidential elections met with Miliband as part of a series of talks with senior British political figures ahead of attending the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday.

His trip to London is an opportunity to raise funds and canvass support among the capital's American community ahead of the November elections, as well as raise his profile on the international stage. Romney is also visiting Israel and Poland as part of the same tour.

Romney kicked off the day with a half-hour meeting with Tony Blair at the former prime minister's private offices in London.

During a brief press conference ahead of his talks with Miliband to discuss a range of issues spanning the international economy, the eurozone crisis, and Syria, Romney said it was "all to the benefit" to be meeting with the leader of the opposition, as well as government, in "anticipation of exchanging ideas and perspectives".

"It is all to the benefit when we exchange ideas with people we believe have ideas that merit confidence," he told journalists.

He was later due to hold a succession of meetings with the foreign secretary, William Hague, the chancellor, George Osborne, the Lib Dem deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and David Cameron on Thursday afternoon amid reports there was unhappiness in the Republican camp over the sense that Cameron had failed to build alliances with them. The prime minister did not meet Romney when he went to Washington in March to visit Obama.

Dressed in a blue suit, light blue tie and white shirt, Romney stressed "the unique relationship between our nations, our commitment to common values, our commitment to peace in the world and our desire to see a stronger world economy."

He told journalists: "I look forward to our exchanges as they relate to those topics and to the developments throughout the world. Obviously the world is a tumultuous and dangerous place and certainly in many regions of the world and we have great interests as a common effort to see peace and prosperity."

Miliband underlined the need for leaders of different parties from different countries to work together, pointing to the special relationship between Britain and the US expressed "in our shared history" and "current commitments" shared by the two countries.

"It's simply an opportunity for the governor and I to exchange ideas," said the Labour leader.

"We come from different parties and also different view points but I think it's incredibly important that we work together and that we respect the electorate in each of our countries."

Romney was visiting London as the Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed adviser stating that Romney had a better understanding of the two countries' "Anglo-Saxon heritage" than Obama, who is of African-American descent. The US vice-president, Joe Biden, called the remarks "disturbing".

Romney distanced himself from any such view.

"I don't agree with whoever that adviser might be," Romney told NBC News, "but do agree that we have a very common bond between ourselves and Great Britain."

In a brief session with the media that allowed just two questions from the press ahead of his talks with Miliband, Romney declined to be drawn on Britain's economic policy while "on foreign soil", and left it to Miliband to answer questions about the latest signs of Britain's deepening double dip recession as the chancellor came under increasing pressure, with one Lib Dem peer urging that he be replaced at the helm by the business secretary, Vince Cable.

The Labour leader said the issue facing the government was not about personnel but the direction of its economic policies, and "whether they are going to move to a different course or whether they are going to carry on a course that is failing [with] not just disappointing figures but disastrous figures."